March 30th, 2010

Apple iPad Buyer’s Guide to Choosing the Right iPad Tablet on Release Date.  So you want a new iPad…what Apple fan doesn’t? The only thing is you can’t decide WHICH iPad you want. Do you want the Wi-Fi version only, or do you want the 3G version that will allow you to perform computing wherever you go?

Do you want the 16 GB hard drive, or the 64? Are you going to buy any peripherals? By now your head is probably spinning with all the decisions you will need to make by the release date of April 3.

First off – you need to decide if you want Wi-Fi or 3G connectivity.  The 3G iPad costs $130 more in each model than it’s Wi-Fi only counterpart. In addition, it comes with a $15 250 MB/month plan or a $30 unlimited plan.  Unlike with the cell phones, you won’t be stuck with a contract – so you can always turn the 3G service off if you so choose.

If you travel a lot or want to surf the web while out of range for many Wi-Fi networks, you might find the 3G service useful.  If you’re just going to use the product while at home, you will be suited with the base model.

What memory do you need? Granted most PC’s come with hundreds of Gigabytes of harddrive space -but the iPad only goes up to 64 GB.  There’s no adding memory later on – everything is all built in.  Once you decide, there’s no going back.

Some experts indicate that the magical amount of memory is 32 GB.  The 16 GB hard drive is a little wimpy for those that want to download a few movies and the 64 GB is more suited for someone obsessed with large libraries of media files.

Some iPhone or iPod Touch users won’t necessarily need a new iPad – the features they desire are already built in to their handsets.  However, for the iPod Touch user the new iPad may be a dream come true.

Are you going to buy an iPad, or have you already pre-ordered your prize?